In ‘The Blues of Dick Kattenburg’, actor Harpert Michielsen depicts the war story of the Jewish composer Dick Kattenburg (1919-1944) and his teacher Leo Smit (1900-1943). The intimate music theater performance can be seen at the Leidse Salon on Wednesday, March 5. With flutist Eleonore Pameijer and pianist Tobias Borsboom, the music of composers persecuted during the Second World War comes to life.

Works by Dick Kattenburg and his teacher Leo Smit (1900-1943) will be played, and there will also be music by Marius Flothuis, who was imprisoned in Camp Vught for resistance activities. During this captivity he was able to compose a number of works.
The performance makes it clear how young people with great talent, zest for life and plans struggle with discrimination, terror and restrictions on their freedom. On May 5, 1944, Kattenburg was arrested, probably during a raid on a cinema.

Shortly afterwards, on May 19, 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered between May and September. Leo Smit and his wife Lientje were deported to Westerbork camp via the Hollandse Schouwburg in early April 1943. At the end of April they are taken to the Sobibor extermination camp, where they are murdered immediately upon arrival. Marius Flothuis survives the war, after many hardships in Camp Oranienburg Sachsenhausen and a terrible ‘death march’ that lasts 12 days.

The music of these persecuted composers is not sad, but lively and swinging.
The ‘Blues by Dick Kattenburg’ is a small-scale musical theater performance within the theme Persecuted Composers.

After the war, the names and works of dozens of persecuted composers are almost forgotten. The Leo Smit Foundation has been conducting research since 1996, talking about these composers, making their sheet music accessible and making the forgotten music heard again. Flutist Eleonore Pameijer, founder and artistic director of the Leo Smit Foundation, received a stack of manuscripts from a Kattenburg family member, found in an attic, from which the idea for this performance arose.

The following music is played in the performance:

Dick Kattenburg from the Sonata for flute and piano: first movement

Dick Kattenburg Blues for piano (fragment)

Dick Kattenburg from the Sonata for flute and piano: second movement

Leo Smit from Suite for piano: third movement (fragment)

Leo Smit Homage to Sherlock Holmes for piano (excerpt)

Leo Smit from the Suite for piano: second part (fragment)

Leo Smit from the Sonata for flute and keyboard: first movement

Leo Smit from the Suite for piano: first movement

Leo Smit from Sonata for flute and keyboard: second movement

Dick Kattenburg from the Sonata for flute and piano: third movement (fragment)

Marius Flothuis Aubade for solo flute

Dick Kattenburg Piece for flute and piano